


As bridges burn

by apathyinreverie



Series: Team Tony [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Family, Gen, Humor, Not particularly Team Cap friendly but no bashing either, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Salt, kind of hinted at Geralt/Jaskier, maybe even a little hint at Geralt/Jaskier/Yen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29426142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apathyinreverie/pseuds/apathyinreverie
Summary: Tony promptly waves off Steve's demand. “Ah, don’t worry. I already have all the data you could possibly want on these feather-lizards.”There is a sigh of exasperation from Geralt where he is currently wiping down his swords. “Cockatrices,” he rumbles, though in a tone that says he isn’t expecting Tony to actually listen.“Mhm,” Tony hums in cheerful agreement, grin genuine in a way that Steve rather misses seeing when it’s just the team anymore. “Isn’t that what I just said.”(Set some time after CW, in a 'verse where Tony met Geralt and his trio of troublemakers while trying to fix everyone's messes. Suffice to say, Yen and Geralt are less than impressed with the team.)
Relationships: Tony Stark & Geralt of Rivia, Tony Stark & Yennefer of Vengerberg
Series: Team Tony [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161674
Comments: 71
Kudos: 374





	As bridges burn

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is set somewhere after Civil War in some universe where the Avengers got pardons after that entire mess in Siberia. And at some point in between, while the Avengers were gone and Tony was trying to pick up the pieces, he managed to come across Geralt and his little band of chaos magnets.
> 
>  **Warning:** As all of my MCU stories, this is **Team Iron Man** and, while this turned out far more balanced between the two sides than I usually tend to write them, Team Cap still doesn’t get away particularly well either. Just, be warned.

The moment they get close to the site of the reported ‘monster’ attack, the entire team knows that this is something entirely different from their usual mission.

The entire team was called, alerts coming in from numerous sources about some weird winged creatures having tumbled through a sudden portal and then immediately proceeded to rather brutally tear into the people at Central Park, the team already suiting up on their way to the Quinjet. But as soon as the first images start coming in – mostly in the form of videos taken by various bystanders on their phones – they are all left staring at the odd, winged and feathered reptile-looking creatures terrorizing the citizens of New York today.

They seem to be rather huge, some of them towering at the size of a one-story building, not to even mention the truly strange combination of a chicken head on what appears to be a reptile body, feathered wings and leather skin. There are seven of them as far as they can see, and the creature things are also quick and utterly brutal in the way they are going after the civilians scattered about, moving together like a pack of predators on the hunt.

Clint has instantly given the things the rather apt name of feather-saurus, which admittedly fits almost disturbingly well as a descriptor.

Though, most of the team’s attention is actually taken up by Tony who, the very moment he got a look at the creatures they will apparently be going up against today, simply started swearing and promptly told Friday to call someone called ‘Geralt’. Whoever that may be.

It’s been happening rather often these days, Tony referring to or talking about or mentioning an association with someone none of the team has ever heard about. It’s one of the starkest reminders of their extended absence after what the media has taken to calling the Civil War. A reminder that, while Tony was trying to fix everything for everyone, he also kept on living his life. Without them in it.

These days, the entire team – Tony included – does their best to pretend that nothing ever happened, that everything is forgiven and forgotten, no matter how absolutely aware they all are that too much happened between them all during those couple of weeks for it to simply be brushed aside.

But Tony fixed it, got them their pardons, showed up in Wakanda one day with the pardons and the Accords in hand, a copy of both for each of them, practically seething in fury as he more or less threw the papers at them and didn’t let any of them get a word in edgewise until they had signed every single page on both documents pre-marked for them, snarling at anyone daring to voice their doubts about his motives or the documents themselves that, unless any of them suddenly managed to get a law degree and to fully immerse themselves into world politics over the last few weeks while stuck in Wakanda, they were damn well going to trust Tony’s word that these documents were good and to stop prissying about due to their bruised egos.

Nat had been the first to sign. Hadn’t even waited for Tony’s outburst, simply walking up to him the moment he appeared in the doorway, taking her copies and signed it all, absolutely clear that she – in contrast to the rest of them – saw no need to question Tony, trusted him to have made these documents the best they could possibly ever be. For their sakes.

Everyone else followed suit, some with more grumbling than others, but no one quite willing to insist on ‘knowing better’ when Tony and Nat – the most politically minded between them – were so clearly in agreement on all of it.

Tony barely waited until the ink was dry before he took the documents, gave a nod at T’Challa, and then took off once more.

And upon his return to the states, he turned right around and sold everything to the press as a huge misunderstanding, and ‘of course the Avengers are in full support of accountability, the entire issue just got blown out of proportions by some drama-hungry journalists, not that I’m pointing fingers of course’, resplendent and oh-so-fake smile bright on his face. Everyone in the world knows it’s bullshit, reparations still being paid to various countries – like Germany as an entirely random example – on the down low, but for now everyone is happy to pretend that the team never split over the issue of the Accords in the first place.

The point is, it’s been happening more and more often that Tony calls in reinforcement from other superheroes whenever he thinks their skills would be more suited to solve whatever problem they are dealing with at the moment. The time where Tony was willing to bet everything on their team forever pulling through no matter what was thrown at them simply over.

It’s not even that Tony’s assessments tend to be off, not in the slightest, the people he calls in always perfectly suited to the task. But with the team back in the US, it’s still jarring sometimes to realize that, while they were stuck in Wakanda, Tony decided that putting all he had on one horse wasn’t a good idea anymore, doesn’t trust them to stick with him no matter what, not with how badly things went with the Accords. It’s jarring to realize that Tony didn’t bring them back because he needed them, in any way, shape, or form.

It’s the same this time.

Tony calls this Geralt person, and while Steve’s enhanced hearing can’t hear any sort of verbal response on the other end beyond a single, confirming grunt, the very moment they land, Tony is already sprinting down the ramp to smack some weirdly glowing stone onto the ground right in front of the Quinjet. A portal instantly opens up in that exact spot and out step who Tony apparently decided to call in for help.

None of them had expected the white-haired guy in leather, swinging gleaming swords and taking out the monster things with a swing or two each, clearly knowing exactly where and how to hit to kill them, moving in a way Steve has never seen anyone move before, ducking right into the range of their rather terrifying beaks but evading a single hit, fluid and so damn fast but his every attack powerful enough to hack off a limb or even one of the creature’s heads if given half the chance. Not to even mention the woman who had appeared with him, dark-haired and throwing around magic with a sort of casual ease that is admittedly rather unsettling to see.

The team has little more to do than set up a perimeter and protect the civilians who are still lingering, hiding in bushes close by in the hopes not to be spotted by the creatures, or – as is so often the case in this century – wanting to get ‘just this one picture, so I can upload it or no one is going to believe me’. There are some things about this time and age that still continue to baffle Steve even now.

Still, the two strangers are clearly perfectly capable of taking out the strange, oversized monster hybrids and it takes them barely fifteen minutes to dispatch the last of the creatures.

None of the team wants to even consider how long it would have likely taken them to figure out these things’ weak spots, much less until they would have managed to take them all out, all the while protecting all civilians from coming to harm.

It’s all over rather quickly, almost a little frighteningly so, when considering the fact that there are only two of them and they went up against seven of the creatures that the Avengers would have likely had to go up against all at the same time, possibly able to split into two groups, but definitely wouldn’t have been able to take on one-on-one.

Then, Tony is landing close to the Quinjet once more, having been busy getting a couple of civilians to safety, apparently trusting these two strangers enough that he didn’t even bother to stick around to make sure they’d be able to deal with the monsters.

"Ah, what a mighty shield brother you have, friend Stark," Thor pipes up in his usual booming voice, the very moment the last of these weird creatures hits the ground, already striding towards Geralt, hand cheerfully outstretched.

The white-haired guy eyes the Asgardian as he sheathes his swords, and then finally reaches out to return the clasp of hand in some sort of strange warrior greeting. Like to like and all that.

“I am Thor, Prince of Asgard," Thor booms, as always delighted at meeting someone else to add to his shield brothers. “Well met.”

"Hmm," the white-haired, sword-wielding guy hums vaguely, eyes intent on the thunder god. “Geralt of Rivia. Can’t say I feel the same.”

Thor blinks, clearly surprised at the dismissal.

And then, the grip of Geralt’s hand is very clearly tightening on Thor's as he rumbles, "You ever touch Tony again,” the guy starts, voice dark as everyone shifts their stances at the sudden sign of aggression, hands immediately moving towards weapons in case this escalates. “And I'll be removing whichever hand you dared to choke him with."

Everyone has frozen, staring at the face off in front of them, but not quite certain what to do, considering they are all perfectly aware exactly which situation the man is clearly referring to at the moment.

Thor blinks, smile having dropped off his face as he meets Geralt’s eyes.

"Aye," the god finally returns slowly, expression thoughtful.

Geralt loosens his hold, so very clearly dismissing Thor, already glancing towards the woman who arrived with him and who is currently in the process of magicking the corpses of the weird creatures into… nothingness.

“Hey,” Steve steps up, calm but unbending authority in his voice as usual, forever assured that his commands will be obeyed. “We will at least one of them as a specimen to examine.” He is honestly a little confused why Tony isn’t the one to make that very demand, the scientist usually the first one to demand samples of anything they ever encounter on missions which might be even the slightest bit different from what he’s seen before.

Though, that particular question is answered quickly, when Tony promptly waves him off, “Ah, don’t worry. I already have all the data you could possibly want on these feather-lizards.”

There is a sigh of exasperation from the white-haired guy. “Cockatrices,” he rumbles, though in a tone that says he isn’t expecting Tony to actually listen.

“Mhm,” Tony hums in cheerful agreement, grin genuine in a way that Steve rather misses seeing when it’s just the team anymore. “Isn’t that what I just said.”

Geralt merely looks at him, but doesn’t bother to react beyond that.

“Done,” the woman then announces, and when Steve glances around he realizes that there isn’t so much as a single feather remaining of those weird creatures any longer.

Geralt gives a single nod, already turning towards the portal still spinning close to their plane, apparently ready to once more take off.

“Hey,” Steve exclaims. “You will have to stay for the debriefing.”

Not only because that’s simply procedure but also because Steve likes getting to know everyone who they might need to call in for help again. And, well, his insistence on these two sticking around might also have something to do with the fact that Steve rather likes knowing everyone who Tony decided to let into his life while the team was gone. Not because Steve would ever dare try to tell Tony who he can or cannot trust or be friends with, not like Tony would ever let him do anything of the sort, but because knowing everyone in Tony’s life makes the team feel a little less like they missed out on a huge chunk of the engineer’s life while they were gone.

However, the white-haired guy barely deigns to glance at him. Rather in contrast to the woman, whose gaze has immediately switched to Steve and is now eyeing him in a manner that is rather unsettling. Like she might be contemplating which parts of him to use in a sacrificial ritual or something.

It’s actually Wanda’s reaction to the other magic user that has them all rather wary of her as well.

Wanda who is standing off to the side, not having said a single word since these two appeared. Or rather, since the woman stepped through the portal. Wanda is staring at her, eyes wide and scared, shoulders curved inward, like she is trying to hide herself. Like whatever she can sense coming off this woman is scaring her witless.

"Ah, Cap," Tony interjects cheerfully. "We've talked about this. No ordering about people who do not owe you compliance. Much less if they tend to hack anything they don't like to pieces as a profession or, well, I don’t even want to know what Yen does to those she decides might have offended her."

The agreeing smile that the woman – Yen – directs at Steve is beautiful, soft and gentle and so very very kind. And utterly terrifying in the sheer malevolent superiority shimmering just underneath as she eyes him.

Though, Steve attention is quickly redirected when Geralt chooses to once more speak up.

"Cap? " he interjects, frown unchanging and dark, his voice low and even, not raised in the least but the growl vibrating within still cutting through all other sound around them. His eyes are suddenly fixed on Steve, an unsettling sort of intensity in them as he asks, “This the guy who left you to die in the cold?”

Everything freezes for an instant as Steve winces. It’s slight but definitely there. Just because the rest of them like to pretend none of the Civil War ever even happened, doesn’t mean it isn’t rather jarring every time someone else brings up any of the events from back then.

"Eyup," Tony nods cheerfully in confirmation. "But we're _past_ that now,” he intones, as he steps up to Geralt’s side, something humorously sardonic in his voice. “They got presidential pardons and everything. No more attempted murder charges to contend with for _any_ of them."

Steve isn’t the only one wincing this time. Because one thing they can admit is that, while they still don’t agree with what Tony and those who stuck by him had done during that Accords mess, their own side certainly hadn’t been blameless either in just how badly things had gone downhill, and most certainly not in how violent the split of the team had ended up being.

Natasha herself had pointed it out to them, cutting right across one of Clint’s anti-Tony rants right after she arrived in Wakanda, saying that Tony hadn’t even thought to call real reinforcements despite having the entire UN to call for backup if he so chose. Because he’d thought they were still teammates, that they would treat each other as such, had even told his side they were just at the airport to talk. It hadn’t been Tony’s people who immediately went for a full-on fight. That was all Cap’s side.

And, boy, if hearing that hadn’t burned.

Steve had turned entirely silent for several days after Nat had told them to get their facts straight before they started bashing their now former teammates. The side that she _herself_ had been on, reminded Steve – with her usual unrelenting straightforwardness whenever she really wants to get her point across – that she had betrayed her chosen side because she realized that, while Tony was trying to fix things for all of their sakes, Steve would stop at nothing to reach his own, _personal_ goals.

Hearing that Nat hadn’t switched sides because she changed her mind or suddenly thought Steve was right or that his take on things at least had some sort of merit, but solely because she trusted Tony to do everything to fix things for all of them no matter what that meant for him personally, while Steve – their supposed leader – couldn’t be trusted to do the same… That had finally shaken them awake.

She had admitted all of it so casually, easily. Like the fact that she wasn’t actually on their side should go without saying, that out of their original team it wasn’t any of them she trusted most to take care of them all, beyond their own egos and agendas. Their family was broken. And when she had been forced to make a choice, she picked Tony. Nat trusted Tony to put them back together, trusted him enough to put herself on the _opposing_ side of him, trusted him to still take care of her in spite of it.

The realization that _all_ of the violence in those few days when things fell apart had been started by them, by those who had stuck with Steve, had been a rather painful conclusion to reach.

And, yes, even Steve isn’t unfair enough to count the events in Siberia in that, knows that even if Tony was the one who threw the first punch _physically_ , Steve himself had started that particular fight long before Tony even knew it was coming.

However, none of this, none of what happened back then, has been addressed so casually between them while both sides are present. Usually, Tony keeps his thoughts on the matter entirely to himself, joins them in collectively pretending that everything is good, that no one misstepped. Usually, Tony doesn’t give away just how little he thinks of those pardons they were handed or their sudden return to public adulation.

They all know, of course. But it’s still different to hear it.

And clearly, Tony isn’t alone in his derision.

"Like I give a fuck about some pseudo-royal fuckwit decreeing forgiveness or condemnation," Geralt scoffs.

The woman standing just slightly off to the side shrugs as well, looking so very soft in her pretty dress and expensive jewelry, especially when compared to the leather-armored, sword-wielding man beside her, but her eyes are somehow even more unforgiving than Geralt’s as she notes almost casually, “Betrayal of kin is just that. There is no forgiveness for that sort of stain one anyone’s soul.”

Neither of them actually voices any sort of threat as they eye the entire team spread out around them. But even Steve can admit that the unspoken warning of what they might do to anyone who dares harm Tony again, is far more effective than any spoken threat could ever hope to be.

There is a pause, no one on their side knowing what to say, and the two strangers apparently having said their piece already, seeing no need to deal with them any further.

"We're leaving," Geralt then announces.

Tony blinks, scrambles up to his side. "Oh, you should absolutely stop by my place before you go,” he wheedles with a smile, forever eager to keep those he truly likes close for as long as they let them.

None of the team likes to think about the fact that they apparently no longer qualify, that Tony tends to take off as soon as the reasonably can these days, impatient to get out of their presence.

Tony rambles on to the two visitors, though it’s not entirely clear which one of them he’s actually addressing at the moment, “I’ve been meaning to show you this new metal I came up with. No idea whether it might have any secondary properties but I’ve been dying to test it.”

“Hm,” Geralt hums, lips quirking slightly as Yen steps up on Tony’s other side, the two of them easily herding him along towards the portal circling into existence at the woman’s gesture, clearly having had no intentions whatsoever of leaving without him.

Of leaving him with the Avengers. The ones who should have been watching his back and instead had found themselves jamming knives into Tony’s back.

“Where is your bard, by the way?” Tony is asking rather randomly, even as the woman reaches out to slip her hand into the crook of Tony’s elbow, all lady-like, and he immediately adjusts his arm accordingly, almost automatically, like he is perfectly used to having her that close, to walking arm-in-arm with her.

She grins at the question, eyes bright as she focuses on Geralt. “Yes, Geralt,” she says. “Where is _your_ bard?”

“Keeping Ciri company,” Geralt returns blandly.

“Ah,” Tony grins. “Making use of the babysitter excuse, I see.”

“Hm,” Geralt hums.

Tony squints at him almost comically, “Is it because Jaskier isn’t actually able to walk straight at the moment or because you really think your badass daughter needs a babysitter?”

Yen snorts in open amusement. “He is just grateful that he finally figured out an excuse to make both Ciri and Jaskier stay behind without protest, taking them aside separately, and tasking them with the ever-so-important task of watching out for the ‘weakest member’. Which is, of course, the other one.”

“Oh, boy,” Tony grins. “He’s playing them?”

Yen’s smirk only widens, “I’m still waiting for the time when they figure it out. Though for now they both seem forever determined not to disappoint Geralt and instead willingly stay behind to watch out for the ‘weakest member’.”

“Thank the gods for that,” Geralt sighs in response.

The last thing they hear is Tony’s bright and honest laughter as he steps through the portal with the two strangers on either side of him. Leaving them behind, standing in the middle of the battlefield, watching them go.

Tony doesn’t even glance backwards, doesn’t spare any of them a single look, doesn’t care to.

Steve realized a while ago – ever since they came back to the US, came back home in the hopes that everything would return to normal, to how it once was, before everything got screwed up by choices that were never meant to have as lasting an effect as they did – that it’s that last part, the part where Tony simply doesn’t care about the team the way he always used to before, not beyond their general safety, doesn’t even care to make sure they get back home safely these days, simply leaving it to – and let Steve quote Tony directly here – ‘their grown-ass, adult selves to deal with their own lives without anyone holding their hand’. Tony truly doesn’t seem to care about how the team is doing beyond that anymore, beyond their general mission effectiveness, entirely disinterested in how they might be doing in their personal lives, or even whether they’d like Tony to maybe stick around sometimes, would maybe like him to spend some time with the team. Just as he doesn’t care to include them in his own life any longer.

It’s that last part that definitely hurts the most.

**Author's Note:**

> Erm, I don’t even know what this is XD I admittedly have this entire fic of how Tony gets thrown into the Witcher ‘verse at some point and meets our favorite Witcher and his three chaos magnets along the way in my head, full of worldbuilding and intertwining magic and technology, but I likely won’t get around to ever writing that particular fic, so I thought I’d give you this little side-snippet instead :D
> 
> Still, hope you enjoyed and I would absolutely love to know what you think!


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